Analysis Of Shabanu: Daughter Of The Wind

In the book Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Shabanu is a young girl who lives in the Middle East. Shabanu and her family live in a mud shack in the middle of the desert. Where Shabanu lives when they’re born their life is already organized for them. They’re parents arrange their marriage usually with their cousins to keep the land in the family name. As Shabanu starts to have her monthly visitor, she gets a lot more responsibility on her shoulders like getting married and starting a family of her own even if she doesn’t want to. Suzanne Fisher Staples’ idea of gender develops throughout the book.

In the beginning of the book Staples makes it clear right off the bat that boys are more valued than girls. On page 3 Auntie says, “If God had blessed you with

They try to marry in the family so the land can stay in the family. They don’t even have the option of not marrying at all. Throughout the story Shabanu continuously states she doesn’t want to marry. On page 204 it says, “ So you’ve paid for all this with little Shabanu… it’s a good solution. It isn’t only the money, which I don’t deny has helped. But what would have become of Shabanu.” Dadi is making Shabanu marry Rahim just to make peace between their families. Dadi knows Shabanu doesn’t want to marry Rahim but still makes her because he know it will make their family rich and keep them out of danger. Further in the book Women are valued even less their main purpose in life was to marry and have children. As a woman in a marriage you must obey your husbands every request. You aren’t even allowed to look at another man; doing so may end in fatal consequences. On page 104, “Sharma tells a story about a woman, her friend, who was stoned to death because her husband accused her of looking at another man. Women were treated poorly for the littlest things. Many husbands beat their wives if they did something